The two organisations have signed a Collaboration Agreement with the aim of developing R&D projects to tackle some of the key technology challenges facing the sector. They will collaborate on EU frameworks and share testing and demonstration experience in offshore wind energy technologies, with a view to improving existing testing capabilities and facilitating access to each other’s testing infrastructure.

Representatives from both organisations will sit on each other’s respective advisory groups, helping to identify and prioritise critical areas where innovative approaches and technological development can accelerate cost reduction in the delivery of offshore renewable energy.

Ignacio Martí Pérez, Innovation & Research Director for ORE Catapult, said: “ORE Catapult was set up to drive forward industry collaboration and technology innovation in offshore renewables, and to promote the sharing of best practice and learning.

“Working collaboratively with Tecnalia will enable us to develop international best practise in technology research and development and to focus on accelerating cross border innovation. We can then share that knowledge, ultimately benefitting the whole offshore renewables industry and helping to drive down the cost of energy from offshore wind”.

Luis Pedrosa, Director of Energy and Environment for TECNALIA, declared that “TECNALIA is committed to renewable sources of energy in the marine environment as a sector of the future which helps towards sustainable economic growth and stable job creation.”

“We believe that research, development and innovation can play a key role in delivering competitive technologies compared to other energy sources. Through this framework, sharing knowledge, experiences, facilities, Tecnalia and ORE Catapult will directly support the energy industry to harness the benefits of the huge energy resource that is the sea. Our collaboration will boost the offshore renewable industry”.

Simon Manley, British Ambassador to Spain said, “I was delighted to visit Tecnalia with the ORE catapult last year and I am even more delighted that this agreement has emerged from it. We are always pleased to support UK and Spain R&D collaborations, and we consider it one of our priorities in the Embassy. We hope this will be the first of a long list of successes between these two world leading technology centres.”

“Both the UK and Spain are global leaders in offshore renewables, and this announcement of a collaboration agreement between two of their leading research institutes is a welcome move towards securing and delivering affordable low carbon energy generation.”